Follow Me on Bloglovin'!

Top Blogs Ph

About

Hi there! I started blogging to share my shopping finds with girls who want to look good on a budget. Through the years, my blog has evolved into a fashion and beauty blog. Feeling frustrated with the lack of choices for brown bag lunches, I decided to chronicle my daily brown bag lunches in a new food blog.
Today I am a full time mom and wife and so I started the Recipe Box which chronicles our new lifestyle. You can still visit my other sites via the links on the side.
I used to work in the corporate world, handling marketing and corporate communications. From time to time, I still do some freelance writing work for clients in the US and UK.
I am also a freelance makeup artist and a jewelry designer.
I have worked with brands such as Clinique, Bobbi Brown, NARS, Estee Lauder, Revlon and Daiso to name a few. What's important to me is that I believe in the brand and their products.
I do accept samples so that I can share my thoughts with my readers but they should be something I can really use. If you are interested in a marketing partnership, drop me an email at lifebyladye@gmail.com.
Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

I know I already posted this in my old food blog but I saw a new photo of it and I couldn’t resist posting it here because it is such a delicious dish. The recipe is courtesy of my sister. You just need some fish fillets, asparagus, cream and spaghetti. Season with salt and pepper and it’s ready to serve.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

We always have leftovers at home but I make sure not to waste them by recycling them. Here are two examples.

We had 2 pieces of leftover roasted chicken so I shredded them up and put them on top of spaghetti.

Next, I had one patola left from a bag I bought and a packet of seafood broth so I made some misua soup. Leftovers are really not a problem in my house. I am thankful that my husband doesn’t mind eating them too. I’m training my son to eat a wide variety of foods as well so that he won’t become a picky eater.

Monday, April 28, 2014

I love this body scrub! This is, of course, from The Body Shop. I got this as part of the Honeymania set I bought. This body scrub is creamy (and dreamy! sorry, couldn’t resist) and worked wonders on my skin. It maintained the softness of my skin that the chocomania scrub gave. The jar is too small so I was only able to use it a few times but it was all worth it.

The scent is nice, the beads didn’t hurt and it left my skin soft and smooth. I would definitely buy this again!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

For our New Year’s Eve dinner, we opted for Almon Marina because, well, we didn’t have a choice! Everyone else was closed early in preparation for the celebrations. Luckily, Almon Marina was still open otherwise we would not have any dinner…or we would have ordered room service. Here’s what we got.

Stuffed pork chop with rice pilaff, veggies and gravy for me. The pork chop has cheese and apples inside. I think this would have tasted better had I eaten it while it was still hot. We had a late dinner because we ate some snack at Max’s prior to buying our dinner.

The hubby, of course, ordered something safe – roasted chicken. He doesn’t like Almon Marina very much whereas my mom and I regularly eat there.

I ordered the pecan pie. MB thought it was weird. He ended up liking it and me disliking it.

Finally, my favorite fruit and nut salad!

*I still have so many backlog posts to publish so please bear with me.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Before the New Year arrived, we decided to go on another staycation to avoid the noise and air pollution. We didn’t want to risk our son getting allergies or something. We stayed at One Greenbelt Place. We chose this hotel because it was walking-distance to the malls. It was very convenient for my husband and I. We both had to work during the holidays so we needed food fast and other necessities fast.

The room was small compared to our usual rooms in other hotels but it sufficed. We mainly wanted to rest and have a good night’s sleep there which we got.

When you enter, you will find the bathroom to your left.

Then there’s the closet. Beside it is the mini “bar” and ref. I put my son’s stuff in the bar.

This served as our vanity/work/dining table:

The room was so messy as this was taken just a few minutes after we arrived. I just took out everything and dealt with the mess later in the evening.

This is MB taking a break and enjoying the

We had a good time there. It’s a very affordable hotel and the breakfast offering was really good. I hope I can find the photos. I will post them here as soon as I find them.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Back in December, the local department store SM had a sale so I thought it was a great opportunity to buy garment bags for our upcoming trip in Singapore come February. I hoarded a lot of these garment bags to my utter disappointment.

It looks good so far right? Then this:

The sides were ripped and the zippers broken! I got 4 of these defective pieces! I was so mad and frustrated because I opened them 2 months after I purchased them! I couldn’t bring them back to be exchanged because the stores here have a 7-day exchange policy. Beyond that, you are stuck with a defective item. I was really so mad because I was running late in packing and was so stressed already. I needed to pack for myself, my husband and my son and it didn’t help that I got these broken products. I threw them away out of anger.

They were cheap at only Php140 and were even discounted because of the sale. I guess I got what I paid for. Earlier in the day, I wanted to buy garment bags from Beabi but decided to go the department store route to save money. I thought that I could use the money saved for our Singapore budget. I was wrong… Next time I will stick to Beabi for my packing needs.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I love siomai. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s a Chinese dimsum. It has pork and shrimps. It goes well with a soy-calamansi (calamondin) dip.

When I see a new siomai place, I make it a point to try it out. I saw this food kiosk called Wanchai and their siomai looks so mouth-watering so I ordered some. I was very disappointed. The meat was tough and chewy and had ligaments. I also did not like the flavor. Too bad as this was not exactly cheap. MB didn’t like it as well.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

We used to be big fans of Mustela baby wash but eventually, I noticed that my son had a funny smell when the afternoon rolls around. I used a different shampoo back then and it didn’t give him odd smells so I thought of changing his baby wash. I was right! The Mustela baby wash was the culprit.

The one in the photo was our first bottle. We are on our second bottle and I bought the biggest one this time. I just love the scent and my baby’s skin also smells nice even after playing a lot and sweating. It’s a different story though when it’s super hot and he is super active. He has been eating a wide variety of foods so he sweats like a grown up. He doesn’t stink but he needs to take a bath in the afternoon as he becomes sticky. It’s nothing that this Chicco No-Tears Bath Foam cannot fix.

Monday, April 21, 2014

I got this for my son last year but he only used it twice. He doesn’t like sippy cups He’d rather drink from a glass. He has been drinking from a glass since he was born. Yeah, you read that right. I developed a fever a few hours after I gave birth so I wasn’t able to breastfeed him so the nurses gave him formula using a cup. No bottles are allowed in MMC. Since then, it has been so easy for him to drink from a glass so I guess that’s why he hates sippy cups. Good thing my best friend Mich told me not to buy a ton of sippy cups as kids outgrow them fast. Her daughter also doesn’t like sippy cups.

On the other hand, these were useful:

I like buying socks for my son. I also like giving them away as gifts. Don’t ask, I don’t know why. These are long gone from his drawers as he outgrew them already. I thought it would be nice to document his clothes here as I give them away as soon as he outgrows them. I only keep a few pieces that have significant meaning to us.

I will post more baby stuff as I’ve been on an never-ending shopping spree for him since he was born.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

I’ve been seeing this snack on TV a lot lately. I’ve tried this way back in December 2013 and I like it. I bought one big box that has 12 smaller boxes inside. I shared them with everyone.

I like this because it’s not messy to eat because the chocolate is inside rather than coating the pretzel sticks.

It’s also not too sweet but I am still not able to finish one box. A box comes with 2 packs. I also like that they packed the pretzels into two separate containers so that they won’t go soggy when not eaten in one sitting. I wish they can do this with Peppero.

Loved this snack but won’t be buying soon as we’ve had an overload. I think I still have one box left. Oh, and the big box came with a lot of fun stickers which I will use in my planner.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

This is another GWP. I like the actual fruit but I am not a huge fan of the scent when it comes to toiletries. I was able to tolerate this though. It was pretty, well, peachy.

It was a bit drying on my skin. Good thing my husband helped me use it up so it didn’t wreak too much havoc on my already uber dry skin. I still LOVE TBS shower gels though in spite of the hits and misses.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

I stopped eating Chips Ahoy! for a while because I got tired of its taste. Then they came out with several variants of their famous chocolate chip cookies and I was smitten all over again! Here’s one I fell in love with.

I don’t have a sweet tooth so this is a tad too sweet for me. I can only eat 2 cookies. My husband on the other hand, devours them like there’s no tomorrow. My son also wants to take a bite as evidenced by the tiny hand on the side.

I like crunchy cookies but there’s something about the chewiness of this cookie that makes me go crazy over it. As I write this, I remember the taste and texture and it makes me crave for one! Will buy this pretty soon!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

We have a huge baby bag. I like bringing a lot of stuff with me when we go out. I like to be prepared. We don’t always follow a perfect schedule so I really have to anticipate events. For example, if I decide to stay in the mall for only half a day, I would only need to bring a few diapers and one set of clothes for changing. But, when my husband texts and says to wait for him then what am I going to do? I don’t want to buy diapers or clothes out of budget.

Anyway, you get the point why I lug around a lot of things. Another thing that I always have is a pair of scissors in my bag because I use it for lots of things such as opening my baby’s snacks. You all know how annoying some food packaging are! I found this cute pair at National Bookstore. It’s pretty sharp and does the job. I will soon post a what’s in my bag baby edition so moms, stay tuned!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Readers of my old blog know that I don’t like the scent of imported mangoes. They’re just different and odd to me. So, I didn’t have high expectations for this product.

This was a GWP so who am I to complain?

The scent was okay, too strong for me but if you like imported mango scents then you will like this. The beads are a bit harsh on my skin which is surprising because other scrubs in TBS are quite gentle. I finished this product in no time because I had to put a lot as it dissolves quickly. I think it also has shea because it felt like I was applying butter on my skin. It’s a bit hard to rinse off but the moisturizing effects stayed on my skin for a long time.

Monday, April 14, 2014

I’m not into parties. I prefer staying at home and spending time with my family or reading or writing. My nails are the only exception. I like jazzing them up every once in a while with glitters and confetti. Love this NOTD!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Remember this product in my old blog? Back then, it was totally useless to me. One day, I decided that it was such a waste of money if I don’t use it so I practiced drawing my brows with it. My practice paid off and now I am quite satisfied with this product. I found out that my brush needs to be very wet and I need to swipe it several times on each shade to get a good color payoff.

I use this palette for my daily errands. I reserve my Bobbi Brown palette for special occasions such as going to church on Sundays. For the rest of the week, Deep Blonde will suffice.

It’s not as good as the Bobbi Brown shadows but for it’s price, it’s good enough for me. Will I repurchase? Probably.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

I had two pots of Rosebud Salve. One, I used on my lips. The other, I used as a diaper rash cream for my baby.

It was pretty effective. My baby’s bottom was smooth and he didn’t develop any rashes for the duration of the pot. I also like the fact that this contains natural ingredients. We are now using a rash cream from Mustela which is pretty effective too but not as good as the Rosebud Salve.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Sometimes I like these sweetened nuts, sometimes I don’t. My mother’s side of the family hails from the Bicol region so I am very familiar with these nuts and other delicacies from there. We were able to finish half of the bottle then the rest went bad and we had to throw it away.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

My husband is not a huge fan of Japanese cuisine. He eats it but if given a choice, he will go for another cuisine. Sakura restaurant has been around in Glorietta for a long time but we’ve never eaten there. I finally convinced him to try it one day.

Here’s what we ordered:

Got to have my fill of edamame, of course.

I can’t always eat it because it will trigger my PM and Fibro but I like to enjoy it from time to time.

I think this is crunchy maki. I’m sorry, I can’t remember as this was from last year.

This was delicious. This was all my husband ate.

The ramen wasn’t good at all. They were too oily and bland. The broth lacked body. The broth is very important as it carries all the other ingredients.

My husband didn’t like them either. Next time I will try the tempura but I will probably be dining there alone.